Moira Wills Screen Prints
I am a printmaker specialising in hand printed screen prints. The editions are small, between 15 and 20 copies which are individually signed and numbered. There is no original, only a drawing. The work is built up in hand cut stencils which are printed in layers of colour to form the image.
The work is lively, colourful and full of joie-de-vivre. Dancing figures cavort across domestic landscapes, and sleeping lovers are oblivious to jealousies and intrigues. Soft painterly effects contrast with sharp handout line work creating tensions and depths to the images.
Click tabs above to view all work and contact information.
The work is lively, colourful and full of joie-de-vivre. Dancing figures cavort across domestic landscapes, and sleeping lovers are oblivious to jealousies and intrigues. Soft painterly effects contrast with sharp handout line work creating tensions and depths to the images.
Click tabs above to view all work and contact information.
All these prints are hand printed using a silk screen print method.The screen is a large wood or aluminium frame which is covered with a tightly stretched mesh which you can push ink through with a squeegee. Areas of the screen can be blocked so that the ink only goes through where you want it.
I use a photographically sensitive screen emulsion on the mesh which you expose to ultra violet light light to harden it. You can block areas where you want the ink to go through with anything light proof such as my hand cut stencil film or thick black pen or crayon or even a good black photcopy.
I use a photographically sensitive screen emulsion on the mesh which you expose to ultra violet light light to harden it. You can block areas where you want the ink to go through with anything light proof such as my hand cut stencil film or thick black pen or crayon or even a good black photcopy.
The Screen Printing Process and how to do it.
It starts with a drawing
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A red plastic film is used to hand cut the separate layers of colour into stencils. The areas not needed are peeled away.
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There are three layers on top of each other here. You have to be able to see what has been cut in the previous layer.
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This is the pale blue and black layers together. There is also some photographic imagery in this design which you can see as photocopies in the bottom right.
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Coating the screen with light sensitive emulsion. Once coated it needs to dry before going into the exposure unit
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When dry, the stencils are put on a huge light box and the coated screen is place on top of them. Ultra violet light is shone on the screen. The red stencils protect the emulsion from the ultra violet light so the stencil area does not harden
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This is the exposure unit. The stencil is laid on the glass of the exposure unit and the screen goes on top.
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The rubber top of the exposure unit ensures that the screen mesh is pressed against the stencil while the ultra violet light shines up from underneath for approximately 30 seconds which hardens the emulsion except the areas protected by the hand cut stencil film.
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Warm water is sprayed over the screen, and gradually the areas that were covered by the stencil film wash away, whilst the other areas remain covered by the emulsion. The light coloured areas are open mesh where the printing ink can go through. The purple areas are blocked and will not let ink through.
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The screen is dry and ready to be used. It is clamped to the frame of the screen printing table so that the screen can be lifted and lowered over the printing bed. The paper is being lined up so that the image prints in the right place. The edges of the paper are marked with masking tape as a registration guide mark.
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Checking that the image will print in the correct place.
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Mixing the colour. This is acrylic paint mixed with a screen printing medium. It can take a long time to get the right colour. Dabs in the sketchbook can help to see how it will look.
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The ink is mixed and spread at the bottom of the image.
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The screen is lifted in order to flood the mesh with ink before pushing the ink through with the squeegee.
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This is the first colour. Masking tape markers ensure that each piece of paper goes down on the table in exactly the same place which means that the print lands in exactly the same place on each piece of paper.
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The prints dry on the drying rack. I do 16 copies in each edition. Each layer of ink has to dry before I put the next colour layer on.
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Here are the six layers of colours that make up the print "Power Cuts"
The print needed a background colour and a pattern on the floor, so two more stencils were added making this an 8 layered print.
Exhibition at The Crypt Gallery Seaford, December 2018